County police hope text tips could lead to more arrests

System has received more than 100 messages since May

Drivers pass by a sign on Shady Grove Road that promotes the county's new Text-a-Tip program, which allows police tipsters to send tips via text message. The tips are anonymous and have so far been used to arrest one man in Montgomery County.

In early May, the Montgomery County Police Department received a tip from an anonymous source that a registered sex offender was living illegally in Poolesville.

After checking it out, police arrested David James Gain of Frederick, charging him with failure to register as a sex offender and failure to change address information with the sex offender registry.

The arrest may not have happened without one simple tool that most people take for granted: their cell phone.

Gain was the first person arrested using a tip from the county's Text-a-Tip program, which allows people to send the police anonymous tips directly from their cell phones.

"This was one of those cases that without the information it could've flown under the radar for a long time," said Lt. Dinesh Patil, who helps coordinate the program for the police department's Management Services Bureau. "Without this text, who knows if we would've ever caught this person."

The program was launched at the beginning of May as part of an initiative for the police department to consolidate all of its anonymous tips while advancing the department technologically, Patil said. In addition to the Text-a-Tip program, the department also launched a Web tip program, allowing tipsters to enter anonymous tips through a Web site, and a more comprehensive phone tip line with live operators.

All tips are consolidated by a third-party company, hired by the police department to administer the revamped program. Prior to May, tips were scattered across the county, with some coming into the department's media office and others going directly to district stations. There wasn't always a Spanish language expert on hand, so some tips fell through the cracks, Patil said.

All three programs are anonymous, a point Patil stressed.

"The whole system is based on anonymity," he said. "Love it or hate it, there is no way for an officer to know who sent the tip."

Users can type "MCPD" and their tip in the body of a text message, then send it to 274637 (CRIMES), Patil said.

Police departments across the country are picking up on the text tip program, including squads in Los Angeles, Boston and New York.

The program has been accepted with open arms at all levels of enforcement, said Meredith Mays, a legislative representative for the Alexandria, Va.-based International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"Many agencies are using text-messaging. It is the next logical step in communication," she said. "[The International Association of Chiefs of Police] favors any form of communication that makes it easier for law enforcement to communicate with the public and vice versa."

Since the program launched at the beginning of May, the department has received 130 tips, Patil said. Many of them are from people trying to figure out the system, or may be tips that police are already working on, he said.

The software cost the department $2,900, and the annual fee for the call center, Patil estimated, will be about $1,200. All money used is derived from the county's drug enforcement fund, since most of the tips are expected to be drug related, he said.

Capt. Russ Hamill, district commander for the county's 2nd District, said technological advancement is especially important in law enforcement.

"It wasn't too long ago that they flipped on a switch and a light went off, calling the police," he said. "And I'm sure when they went to two-way radios people were taken aback by it, but this is important. I imagine it's just the tip of the iceberg."

Patil said the next step in the program is to bring it to county residents who may use it the most: teens.

Starting in September, each high school's Education Facilities Officer will promote the program to students.

"Kids today, they don't call each other or ride their bikes to each others' houses, they text," Patil said. "And if we can spread the word about this program to these kids, maybe they'll tell their parents about it."